The Department of Transportation (DOTr) insisted on a solicited bid for the EDSA Busway project and returned the Megawide Construction Corp.’s unsolicited proposal to handle operations and maintenance.
“We returned the proposal because we wanted to know more and see if it would be faster to do a solicited proposal rather than unsolicited,” Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.
Under the Public-Private Partnership law, Bautista said the approval and awarding process of unsolicited proposals take more than one year to complete compared to less than a year for a solicited proposal like the privatization of the NAIA project.
Under government plans, this happens next year.
The NCR EDSA Busway Project requires the financing, design and construction of enhanced bus stations, operations control centers and parking depots, and the purchase, operations and maintenance of a high-capacity busway plying through EDSA and other major and feeder roads.
It seeks to boost the existing EDSA Carousel and address the high demand for transportation services along the median of EDSA and feeder roads by increasing capacity and service reliability.
The DOTr and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center in March this year launched a market sounding to engage potential private sector partners in the transport infrastructure project.
Market sounding sought to gain an overview of the proposed PPP project, gather initial feedback and valuable insights from private sector participants and identify potential issues or concerns affecting project viability.
The scope of responsibility of the private sector partner encompasses the financing, design, construction, operations and maintenance of upgraded bus stations and facilities, procurement of bus fleet, operations and maintenance of busway systems, the agency said.
